My wife has been trying to convince me to get a protector for my iPhone ever since she bought hers, a silicone sleeve made by Belkin, at the Apple Store a few months ago. But I didn't like any of the designs they had at the Apple Store. I was looking for something more original, edgier.
Pretty is as pretty does.
I can't remember exactly what terms I entered into Google, but the Gelaskins Web site came up prominently in the search results. The designs were cool. The price seemed right at less than $15. The copy on the site emphasized both protection and customizability. So, I picked my design, paid my $18 ($15 plus $3 for standard shipping), and waited.
What I didn't do was read CNET's 2006 review. If I had seen the very apt phrase "artistic stickers that do double-duty as scratch protectors," I wouldn't have been so surprised that this thing is basically a decal. It's got a rubberized texture and special glue that makes it easy to peel off and on--it took me a couple tries to ensure that I didn't have any bubbles--but otherwise it's not much different from the free stickers you get at shows. I'm sure my three-year-old daughter would have been happy to decorate my phone with some of those.
I also made a mistake by ordering the iPhone version instead of the iPhone 3G version. As a result, I've got a quarter-inch of exposed space--the 3G versions wrap around the side on part of the phone, although they still leave the top bare. Even so, 18 bucks for a decal seems awfully steep. Lesson learned--even for impulse buys, read the review.
Tell Matt he's dumb on Twitter.
You're on stage, in the middle of your first song. The band's tight. The sound's dialed in. The audience is grooving. But you--idiot guitarist--forgot to do the Stevie Ray Vaughan trick of tucking your cable up through your strap, so instead it's running straight down to the floor, next to your feet. Excited, you take a step forward to pose for your friends in the front row and step right on your cord. It comes out with an ear-splitting pop and buzz. The bass player rolls his eyes as you get down on the stage, pick the end of the cable back up, plug it back into your guitar--another loud pop--and finish the solo. Momentum lost. Show ruined. Chances of rock stardom zero.
Belkin's got the solution: BreakFree connectors. They're magnetic, like the MacBook's MagSafe power cable. They can't prevent you from stepping on your cord, but when you do there's no pop, no buzz, and you can reattach them very quickly. They're also excellent for guitarists who like to change axes between songs, but lack the roadies or foresight to do the busy work of turning on the bypass each time. Plus, you're less likely to damage your input jack after hundreds of plugs and unplugs--and there are few things worse than an input jack failing on stage. (What's that crackling sound?)
$19.99, available in September.
Several CES booths had the telltale orange and black HD Radio sign, designating that they were selling at least one device with an HD Radio receiver in it. There was also some buzz over a new feature that lets you flag a song for later purchase on iTunes (this works only on models with an iPod dock). I stopped by iBiquity's booth--they're the developers of HD Radio technology--to get an overview of all the supported devices out there, and it's a pretty impressive list, including home radios from Creative, JBL, and Sony, plus automotive radios from many major manufacturers.
This JBL HD Radio includes an iPod dock; tag any song as it plays and your iPod will remember it so you can buy it later from iTunes.
(Credit: Matt Rosoff)The sales pitch is pretty simple: the high-definition version of FM radio sounds like CDs, and high-definition AM radio sounds like standard FM. HD Radio also lets broadcasters put multiple stations on the same frequency, so, for example, an alternative rock station could add a second country station. Which highlights the biggest problem with HD Radio: there has to be material on the radio that you actually want to listen to. The lack of variety on commercial radio is a big driver of the iPod's success, and a big reason why the recording industry's in trouble--people just don't find out about new songs on the radio anymore.
Speaking of the iPod's success, it seems like half the audio devices on the floor were designed to work with Apple's iconic device. One of the most interesting is Belkin's TuneStudio for iPod, a four-channel mixer that lets you record directly to the iPod. Each channel has an XLR (microphone) and quarter-inch (instrument cable, usually) input, and onboard compressors make sure you don't overload the iPod's capacity. This would be great for recording rehearsals or live sessions, but I'm guessing the tracks are combined into a single file, so you wouldn't be able to work with them after they were recorded (like use them in Garage Band). Still, this seems like a reasonable alternative to portable PCM recorders like the Olympus LS-10 or Sony MZ-M200. for high-quality live sessions where you don't want to do much post-production work.
And just in case you missed it, yes, they have sewing machines at CES. From Brother. Proof below right.
Everything's at CES.
(Credit: Matt Rosoff)- prev
- 1
- next
.html?keyword%3DBelkin){kind=small}
